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Low Response To Long Form Causes Worry About Census

In the wake of concerns raised by some Republican leaders over the intrusiveness of some census questions, Census Bureau officials have become alarmed that a smaller percentage of households are mailing back their census long forms than did so in 1990.

Census Bureau officials said this week that 48 percent of households had filled out and returned the long form, compared with 58 percent of those who had mailed back the short form. At a comparable time in 1990, the response rate for the long form was 6 percentage points behind that of the short form.

Ten years ago, census takers interviewing people in households that did not mail back the long form were able to close the gap to 4.5 percentage points. But officials are fearful that unless there is a significant upturn in the number of households sending in the long form, the gap will not be significantly reduced.

''I don't think it can be,'' said William Barron, deputy director of the Census Bureau. ''I don't think it's going to be.''

Information from the long form is considered critical, used as the base for items like the consumer expenditure survey, a key component of the consumer price index; the monthly unemployment figures issued by the Labor Department; and the National Crime Victimization Survey by the Justice Department.

The long form is a 53-question version that is mailed to one in six households nationwide. It asks people to provide personal data on things like income, the amount of time it takes to commute to work, the amount paid for utilities and what kind of plumbing facilities are in their homes.

The short form has eight questions and only seeks information about things like name, age, sex, race and ethnicity.

In some ways this year's long form is less intrusive than in years past. In 1990, the long form had 58 questions; in 1980 it had 65. And this year's form pales in comparison with the long form of 1940, which had 83 questions.

In recent weeks the Census Bureau has received numerous complaints from the public that many of the questions on the long form were too nosy. Census Bureau officials said the level of complaints from the public is not significantly different from what it was in 1980 and 1990.

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Several Republican leaders, responding to the complaints, suggested last week that people fill out the form and simply skip questions they find objectionable. Campaigning in Milwaukee last week, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said people should mail back their form and ''if they're worried about the government intruding into their personal lives, they ought to think about it.''

A survey conducted for the Census Bureau found that in the first two weeks after the forms were mailed out, 10 percent of those polled said they believed the census was too intrusive, Kenneth Prewitt, the director of the Census Bureau, said. In the third week, as news accounts appeared detailing concerns of some Republicans over the questions, the number of people who said the census was too intrusive jumped to 17 percent.

Democrats in the House have criticized the actions of these Republican, noting that the Census Bureau had sent copies of potential questions to Congress in 1997 and 1998 and asked for comments. They received none.

''In 1997 and 1998 not one of these sanctimonious census reformers said one thing when they received books on their desks that said 'this is what we're going to ask,' '' said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of Manhattan, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Census.

In recent days Republican leaders have been scrambling to not be seen as trying to undermine the census. Today House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, of Illinois; Representative J. C. Watts Jr. of Oklahoma, head of the House Republican Conference; and Representative Dan Miller of Florida, chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Census, held a joint news conference to urge people to complete their forms, though they still left open the possibility for people to skip some questions.

''I think every American ought to fill it out to the best of their ability,'' Mr. Hastert said. ''If they have reservations about their phone number or some things that they think are private, I think that's a condition that they ought to be able to make their own decision on.''

Even as the Republican leaders sought to be seen as friends of the census, some business groups that rely heavily on census data said that the 2000 Census may already be irreparably damaged.

''The cow's out of the barn,'' said David Crowe, staff vice president of the National Association of Home Builders. ''We've had some very negative statements from some influential politicians. I don't know how you counteract that.''